It’s that time of year again, Fall. I have a love/hate relationship with fall, on one hand it’s a beautiful time of year, the leaves are changing, it’s as pretty as spring, in its own way. The days are no longer unbearable hot, which brings us to the hate part. Time to close down the swamp cooler, one fall chore that I really dislike.
For those of you who live in more humid states you have no idea what I’m talking about. I didn’t either when I first came to Utah. Basically a swamp cooler is a big metal box that sits on your roof. Water runs over pads inside and a big fan turns, forcing air through the pads and into your house. The wet pads cool the air, thus the name swamp cooler. I love my swamp cooler, it requires that you have open windows for good air circulation and I love the smell of fresh air.
The thing I dislike? Opening and closing the swamp cooler, it’s on the roof and I’m afraid of heights. For those of you who have a swamp cooler there are some basic things you have to do to shut it down in the winter.
First, you have to shut off the water and drain the water line that comes into the house; this will prevent that line from freezing. Then you need to drain the pan n the swamp cooler so it doesn’t freeze. Next you need to unplug the motor and the pump, you don’t want them accidentally getting turned on after you shut the swamp cooler down.
The final steps are to put the cover on the swamp cooler and put a pillow in the vent where the air enters the house. The covers are heavy duty canvas and keep out most of the wind. The pillow is just that, it’s a vinyl covered stuffed pillow that fits into the vent that comes into your house to make sure no cold air gets in during the winter.
Swamp coolers are fairly easy to maintain and fix so they are good for those of us who aren’t all that handy. If they just weren’t on the roof they would be perfect.